Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a major imaging technique used in medicine. MRI is capable of generating detailed images of soft tissues such as the brain, muscles and kidneys. Specific properties of the various compounds found inside tissues, such as water and/or fat, are used to generate images. For example, when subjected to a strong magnetic field, the vector sum of the nuclear magnetic moments of a large number of atoms possessing a nuclear spin angular momentum, such as hydrogen, which is abundant in water and fat, will produce a net magnetic moment in alignment with the externally applied field. The resultant net magnetic moment can furthermore process with a well-defined frequency that is proportional to the applied magnetic field. After excitation by radio frequency pulses, the net magnetization thus allows a detectable signal to be generated.
The acquired signals form the basis from which images of the tissue being scanned is obtained. These images are typically a representation of the anatomy of the tissue being scanned. Moreover, the images obtained can be further enhanced by segmenting the anatomy into regions of interest. Segmentation into regions of interest is typically accomplished by mapping generic atlas data previously obtained from one or more different tissue samples, or based on the experience of experts in the field. However, the data obtained in this manner is not necessarily representative of the tissue at hand. Accordingly, there is a need to accurately enhance anatomical images based on regions of interest.